Conventional audiovisual (AV) storage systems, e.g., media storage devices, allow users to record a great deal of media transmitted to a user, e.g., local for the user. Thus, for example, users can record media such as movies and television (TV) programs on a media recording device, such as a hard drive, conveniently located in their home. However, due to the large capacity of conventional hard drive units, an overwhelmingly large quantity of media can be recorded on the AV storage system. Given these facts, a need implicitly arises for a method to meaningfully manage the media content recorded on a media storage device local to the user.
It is common that conventional storage management is entirely dependent upon the user, who is then responsible for ensuring availability of sufficient resources for ongoing and future recording. Some conventional media storage devices can perform overwriting of a program, but this is based on viewing status (“already viewed”) or temporal status (“oldest content is removed first”). However, this crude method of overwriting a program often fails to maintain the recorded programs the user truly wants. Thus a need arises for a media storage device that overcomes the limitations of conventional user-intensive storage methods.
Conventional media programs are recorded at some arbitrary location within a media storage device, e.g., at an arbitrary address within a hard drive portion of the media storage device. Interestingly, a media program is actually made up of many small clips of discrete media, e.g., audio/video clips. However, conventional media storage devices only allow the recording of, and overwriting of, the entire section of the program. That is, a user will instruct the media storage device that media program can be overwritten in its entirety. Thus, the conventional method provides an all or nothing approach to handling media stored on the media storage device.
While the entire program might not actually be overwritten in conventional methods, e.g., due to the fact that the new program is only 50% as long as the program being overwritten, the conventional devices and methods still provide only program-level granularity in the recording and overwriting instructions. This practice may result in the loss of a small clip, e.g., a 60 second content clip, of data that the user desires to maintain. Conversely, this practice may consume significantly more storage space than actually needed. For example, a user must consume storage space for the duration of the entire program to ensure retention of the small desired AV clip, according to the conventional program-granularity level of recording and storing. Additionally, the conventional process is wasteful of resources. For example, if only clip needs to be updated to make the entire program current, then the conventional process requires that the entire program be overwritten to capture the clip. Consequently, a need arises for a method to overcome the limitations of the conventional program-level granularity for recording and overwriting data on the media storage device.
One alternative to the conventional home entertainment system, e.g., a television coupled with an media storage device, is a so-called conventional personal computer (PC) audiovisual (AV) system. A PC AV system has more processor capabilities because it is a complete computer. However, the conventional download of files and content can a formidable quantity of files and data for a user to manage. Consequently, a need exists to provide the aforementioned improvements in media storage to a PC AV system or a home network storage system.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for updating content in an audiovisual (AV) storage system. In particular, the present invention provides automated remote management of content stored in a local AV storage system, using context-sensitive instructions. Thus, the present invention provides a method of meaningfully managing the content, or data, recorded on the media storage device. That is, the present invention overcomes the limitations of a single-interaction paradigm of a user with the on-site media storage device. Furthermore, the present invention overcomes the limitations of the conventional media storage paradigm that requires frequent user input for managing storage space. The present invention also overcomes the problem of conventional overwriting methods and the limitations of the conventional program-level granularity for recording and overwriting data on the media storage device. The present invention is also applicable to a PC AV system or a home network storage system.
One embodiment of the present invention provides an audiovisual (AV) storage system capable of receiving automated remote context-sensitive management instructions for updating the media content stored on the AV storage system. In particular, the storage system, or storage device, for storing a multimedia signal includes a storage medium, such as a dedicated hard drive, a processor, and a memory. The storage medium is coupled to the processor and the memory. The memory contains instructions that, when implemented via the processor and other components, enables a method of automated remote management of data stored on the storage medium local to the user. The method includes several steps, including a first step of receiving a media signal with content data and context data, also referred to as metadata, at the media storage device. A subsequent step receives storage management instructions from a storage management provider. Lastly, the media signal is stored on the media storage device in accordance with the storage management instructions.
The method of the present embodiment also accommodates the following provision. The metadata can either be provided along with the content, or through other mechanisms, including on-line/Internet based data provision. The metadata contains references to related content, which may be obsolete, once the new content is available. For example: in a news broadcast context, a new story replaces an older story, given that they describe the same event. The metadata may also contain other information about the content, which enables the system to match the user preferences and to manage the available storage space. For example, the user may have requested to keep the most recent episode of a soap opera available. The metadata enables the system to identify previously stored episodes, and to keep only the most recent one.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become clear to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are described herein.